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Photographer Captures One In A Million Photo, Doesn’t Realize It Until He Gets Home
Sometimes in nature things happen that seem too good to be true, perfect coincidences that vividly illustrate the beauty and wonder of the world around us.
One such episode occurred over the Costa Brava, in Northeastern Spain, when a flock of birds began to gather into a shape-shifting cloud, known as a murmuration. This phenomenon is a true spectacle, with hundreds, sometimes thousands or more birds moving and twisting in what appears to be a coordinated, single organism that can quickly morph into some startling shapes.
Wildlife photography professional Daniel Biber from Hilzingen, Germany was there when the starlings began to swirl and twist, most likely the result of a predator such as a falcon or a hawk being in the vicinity. It was almost supernatural that in response to the predator, the cloud of starlings ended up twisting and turning themselves into a giant, single bird, as if to say to their tormentor, “we are bigger than you.”
The photos have earned Mr. Biber a prize in an international photography competition, but he didn’t realize that he had captured such unique shots until later on. “Only when I checked the pictures on the computer later, I realized what formation the starlings had created,” he told the Daily Mail. “I was so concentrated on taking pictures at the time that I hadn’t realized that the starling murmuration had created a giant bird in the sky.”
It was a case of patience pays off for Mr. Biber, who had tried and failed to capture the starlings in full flow before. “’I’ve tried to photograph the starlings but it never worked out as well as I hoped for,” he said. “’I eventually drove to the spot every day for four days in a row in order to capture them. I picked a spot where I thought they would turn up and picked a matching foreground and backdrop in order to put them in a scene.”
Scroll down below to check out Mr. Biber’s incredible bird watching photography shots, and if you are a bit of an amateur twitcher yourself, you can add your own bird photos in the comments!
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Sometimes in nature things happen that seem too good to be true
Image credits: Daniel Biber/lensculture
Photographer Daniel Biber from Hilzingen, Germany was trying to capture the murmuration of starlings for 4 days when he finally succeeded
Image credits: Daniel Biber/ SWNS
“I’ve tried to photograph the starlings but it never worked out as well as I hoped for”
Image credits: Daniel Biber/lensculture
“I eventually drove to the spot every day for four days in a row in order to capture them”
Image credits: Daniel Biber/lensculture
“I was so concentrated on taking pictures at the time that I hadn’t realised that the starlings had created a giant bird in the sky”
Image credits: Daniel Biber/lensculture
“It took less than 10 seconds for the birds to create that formation”
Image credits: Daniel Biber/lensculture
“I realised that I had captured a unique snapshot, technically, sharp and in high quality”
Image credits: Daniel Biber/lensculture
“It usually happens that birds of prey turn up and the starlings then create bizarre forms. It can be quite erratic and completely random”
Image credits: Daniel Biber/lensculture
“A number of people were watching this display but they were observing it from other spots and might not have seen what I captured”
Image credits: Daniel Biber/lensculture
The incredible images ended up winning an international photography prize!
Image credits: Daniel Biber/lensculture
What do you think ?
Martin Bourque 6 years ago
Fantastic shot! Your tenacity and a little serendipity really paid off. I hope I'm that lucky one day. The only recent pic I have is an angry bird. monday_mor...a275b9.jpg 
Karen McCrorey 6 years ago
Beautiful. Standing under a murmuration is indeed a zen-like experience. 002F9C30-0...a-jpeg.jpg 
Christine Heathman 6 years ago
Very beautiful pictures. I can see why the won an international prize
Kacy Jones 6 years ago
Awesome maybe one of the photos will win the National Geographic photo contest
Katie and Jared Coates 6 years ago
Reminds me of philosophy and Platonic forms.. And the idea that a perfect form of everything exists in the cosmos <3
Gail Harry 4 years ago
if you have eyes to see, you will see -- maybe it's to dismay predators?
Ronald Caple 5 years ago
I once had the chance to take pics of a group of 1000 + Sparrows format into a huge perfect tornado..............but my camera? I was on the way to pick it up from the cops who had stolen it. They stole a lot more in that one group of shots though, from us all!
Ronald Caple 5 years ago
Ever wonder how a so called fictitious bird can be mimicked by live bords? Ladies, Gentlemen, The Phoenix Rises! I once had the chance to take pics of a group of 1000 + Sparrows format into a huge perfect tornado..............but my camera? I was on the way to pick it up from the cops who had stolen it. They stole a lot more in that one group of shots though, from us all!
Jim Chisholm 6 years ago
re's a pic that I lucked out with. I was waiting long periods bird activity and then scrambling to get as many shots as possible in an uncertain amount of time. I only knew about the lighthouse in the background of this photo after I got home. Sound familiar? This is from Campbell River, BC looking at Quadra Island. Seagulls-o...cc5105.jpg 
Srijita Kushwaha 6 years ago
Nature at its Best! ---- ViSiT My WeBsItE: http://www.srijitaphotography.com/
Terri Rowland 6 years ago
If I could give a million up votes to this, it's worth every minute spent waiting for the exact moment. 💜💝💚💞😇
Ender Orak 6 years ago
Isn't it weird that we only appreciate such beauties only when it looks like something that we can recognise? Regardless of what shape it takes, their dance is pure beauty, but only if we can truly look, without our mind in charge to make it look like something that it already knows (which isn't too much).
Geoffrey Kamadi 6 years ago
Awesome! Just another indication that an incredible photo may take hours or days of waiting.
Gabi Taylor 6 years ago
FANTASTIC! Congratulations, Daniel Biber! God's artwork is everywhere at every moment... but I had NO IDEA that God even works with STARLINGS VISUALLY, though it makes sense... and I always felt their patterns of FLIGHT were somehow God-directed! HOW ELSE could they fly with such precision and without any known (to us) leader(s). Even WITH leaders what they manage to do would be impossible... impossible for SO MANY to fly so SWIFTLY yet never to fly into each other! It's #MAGIC. ♥ God's magic.
jacqueline charity 6 years ago
They are true natural works of art. Would like to have framed copies.
Hari Onago 6 years ago
What were the odds? These photos are incredible! I love watching the sterlings shape shifting like that but I had never witnessed anything similar before. Really cool.
Mike Melnotte 6 years ago
THIS is why you put the effort into photography. For a magical, fleeting moment like that. There's effort that goes into seeking out these shots. Well done!
Della Threlkeld 5 years ago
All I could think of is What an AWSOME GOD THERE IS!♥️♥️. He made us and the birds! Many thanks to the photographer! Della Threlkeld, Texas
mella Oscar 6 years ago
If you are trying to catch your cheating spouse, I recommend that you contact the hacker that helped me monitor my husband’s phone when I was gathering evidence during the divorce. I got virtually every information he has been hiding over the months easily on my own phone: the spy app diverted all his whatsapp, calls, text, facebook, text messages, sent and received through the phone: I also got his phone calls and deleted messages. he could not believe his eyes when he saw the evidence because he had no idea he was hacked.. if you need any type of hack you can contact him. Contact: computerworld3017@gmail.com
Martin Bourque 6 years ago
Fantastic shot! Your tenacity and a little serendipity really paid off. I hope I'm that lucky one day. The only recent pic I have is an angry bird. monday_mor...a275b9.jpg
Karen McCrorey 6 years ago
Beautiful. Standing under a murmuration is indeed a zen-like experience. 002F9C30-0...a-jpeg.jpg
Christine Heathman 6 years ago
Very beautiful pictures. I can see why the won an international prize
Kacy Jones 6 years ago
Awesome maybe one of the photos will win the National Geographic photo contest
Katie and Jared Coates 6 years ago
Reminds me of philosophy and Platonic forms.. And the idea that a perfect form of everything exists in the cosmos <3
Gail Harry 4 years ago
if you have eyes to see, you will see -- maybe it's to dismay predators?
Ronald Caple 5 years ago
I once had the chance to take pics of a group of 1000 + Sparrows format into a huge perfect tornado..............but my camera? I was on the way to pick it up from the cops who had stolen it. They stole a lot more in that one group of shots though, from us all!
Ronald Caple 5 years ago
Ever wonder how a so called fictitious bird can be mimicked by live bords? Ladies, Gentlemen, The Phoenix Rises! I once had the chance to take pics of a group of 1000 + Sparrows format into a huge perfect tornado..............but my camera? I was on the way to pick it up from the cops who had stolen it. They stole a lot more in that one group of shots though, from us all!
Jim Chisholm 6 years ago
re's a pic that I lucked out with. I was waiting long periods bird activity and then scrambling to get as many shots as possible in an uncertain amount of time. I only knew about the lighthouse in the background of this photo after I got home. Sound familiar? This is from Campbell River, BC looking at Quadra Island. Seagulls-o...cc5105.jpg
Srijita Kushwaha 6 years ago
Nature at its Best! ---- ViSiT My WeBsItE: http://www.srijitaphotography.com/
Terri Rowland 6 years ago
If I could give a million up votes to this, it's worth every minute spent waiting for the exact moment. 💜💝💚💞😇
Ender Orak 6 years ago
Isn't it weird that we only appreciate such beauties only when it looks like something that we can recognise? Regardless of what shape it takes, their dance is pure beauty, but only if we can truly look, without our mind in charge to make it look like something that it already knows (which isn't too much).
Geoffrey Kamadi 6 years ago
Awesome! Just another indication that an incredible photo may take hours or days of waiting.
Gabi Taylor 6 years ago
FANTASTIC! Congratulations, Daniel Biber! God's artwork is everywhere at every moment... but I had NO IDEA that God even works with STARLINGS VISUALLY, though it makes sense... and I always felt their patterns of FLIGHT were somehow God-directed! HOW ELSE could they fly with such precision and without any known (to us) leader(s). Even WITH leaders what they manage to do would be impossible... impossible for SO MANY to fly so SWIFTLY yet never to fly into each other! It's #MAGIC. ♥ God's magic.
jacqueline charity 6 years ago
They are true natural works of art. Would like to have framed copies.
Hari Onago 6 years ago
What were the odds? These photos are incredible! I love watching the sterlings shape shifting like that but I had never witnessed anything similar before. Really cool.
Mike Melnotte 6 years ago
THIS is why you put the effort into photography. For a magical, fleeting moment like that. There's effort that goes into seeking out these shots. Well done!
Della Threlkeld 5 years ago
All I could think of is What an AWSOME GOD THERE IS!♥️♥️. He made us and the birds! Many thanks to the photographer! Della Threlkeld, Texas
mella Oscar 6 years ago
If you are trying to catch your cheating spouse, I recommend that you contact the hacker that helped me monitor my husband’s phone when I was gathering evidence during the divorce. I got virtually every information he has been hiding over the months easily on my own phone: the spy app diverted all his whatsapp, calls, text, facebook, text messages, sent and received through the phone: I also got his phone calls and deleted messages. he could not believe his eyes when he saw the evidence because he had no idea he was hacked.. if you need any type of hack you can contact him. Contact: computerworld3017@gmail.com
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